Ranking the Sixers: No. 15, Furkan Korkmaz

The Sixer Sense is helping to fill the offseason’s dead space by ranking each and every member of the Philadelphia 76ers‘ roster. Furkan Korkmaz is next.

As a brief reminder of how this works, we here at TSS averaged rankings from 14 different staff members in order to get a composite list of the Philadelphia 76ers‘ best players, from No. 1 through No. 16.

Next is Furkan Korkmaz, who comes in at No. 15.

• 16. James Michael McAdoo
• 15. Furkan Korkmaz

If talent and athleticism were the only qualification for Furkan’s ranking, I believe the Turkish national player would be higher on this list. But as summer league showed, at 19, more time is required to get NBA ready. Furkan definitely needs to go to the Brett Brown school of team defense. Attending the Todd Wright strength and conditioning program could not hurt either. Additionally, while I believe his shooting will translate to the NBA, just like we saw with Dario Saric last year, there will be an adjustment period to get used to the deeper three-point line.

Before laying out different expectations for the 2017-2018 season, let’s get reacquainted with what Furkan did last year with Anadolu Efes and Banvit Basketbol Kubulu, with the team in Summer League and as a member of the Turkish National team at Eurobasket.

2016-2017 Season Statistics:

As per Real GM:

Las Vegas Summer League Highlights:

EuroBasket:

Furkan has carved a role on the Turkish national team as a spark off the bench. In a limited role, Korkmaz has been able to score in spurts. He has proven to be very efficient so far and had his best game against Belgium. In that contest, he led Turkey in scoring with fourteen points. Furkan shot 75 percent from the field and went seven-of-seven from the free throw line.  His performance certainly has caught the attention of the Philadelphia 76ers front office and coaches

Related Story: An update on the Sixers' EuroBasket players

Quote from Coach Brett Brown:

Brett Brown was recently asked about his impressions of Furkan so far by Brian Seltzer on The Broadcast. Brown had this to say.

"“He loves basketball. He’s a gym rat, he’s got a bounce. You know like, he really has an athleticism and a bounce. He wants to be good. I think the experience he got with us and playing against NBA guys in Vegas helped jump start what is turning out to be an impressive tournament. I think that his future really is extremely exciting because of his athleticism and passion for the game. And we look forward to helping him with his body, and getting him back here in Philadelphia”.  – From the Sept. 8, 2017 episode of The Broadcast"

2017-2018 Best Case Scenario:

As Coach Brown said, the Sixers need to work on Furkan’s body. He doesn’t yet have the physical profile that can defend even passably at the shooting guard position. It took until after the all-star break for Timothe Luwawu-Cabbarot to solidify himself in the regular rotation last year. The Sixers are far deeper than last year at the off ball guard position, which Furkan plays. With the signing of JJ Redick, return of Jerryd Bayless and Nik Stauskas still ahead of him, any significant playing time by the end of the year will mean Furkan will have passed both Bayless and Nik on the depth chart.

I do not consider this a likely scenario, but if Furkan can spend some time in the G-League like TLC did last year, add some muscle and show consistency from deep, then an injury or trade could open up room for him to crack the top ten.

Related Story: How Korkmaz can earn playing time next season

2017-2018 Worst Case Scenario

Spending a whole year in the G-League would be not necessarily be a bad outcome to Furkan’s season. Now, a year spent struggling on the developmental team would be. If the Sixers front office did not think a year in their program would lead to the best for Furkan, then I don’t think they would have paid so much for him to play in the states. They believe he will show enough promise to prove that the former dunk contest winner is in fact a big part of the Sixer’s future.

If a year on the 87ers doesn’t yield results, then Furkan may have been better off staying in Turkey. This is not what the team and fans want to conclude. Furkan still holds the value of a first round pick salary wise. The team has desires on signing a max player next summer and every penny counts. Furkan has to show he has enough future value to justify that salary, his season won’t be a success without that.

2017-2018 Most Likely Scenario:

It is possible for Furkan to crash and burn. But I feel it most likely he will show flashes while spending most of the year in the G-League. I think time in the big club will happen at some point this year. But It will not be more than a cup of coffee at the end of the bench during a part of the year when more bodies are needed.

If he can develop signficantly, I think we should expect Furkan to pass Nik Stauskas in the rotation sooner rather than later. This makes Nik even more expendable than he is right now, especially if his development curve plateaus. Personally, I don’t wish that for Nik. He’s an excellent teammate. He has truly bought into the 76er’s program. You always want those type of guys on your team. If Furkan buys in too, proves he can become more of an asset, especially on defense, then most of the year in Delaware will be worth it.

Next: No. 16, James Michael McAdoo

As long as everything goes to plan, we will definitely not rank Furkan Korkamaz 15th by next season.